BARRE — The Northfield man who stabbed another man after following him home in 2011 pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for the incident, while still facing charges of repeatedly raping an 11-year-old girl in Bellows Falls in 2009.

David Leo Edson, 29, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Washington County criminal court in Barre to the assault charge, which was amended from an original charge of second-degree attempted murder. A charge of felony burglary was dropped as a result of the plea deal.

He now faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Judge Thomas Zonay ordered that a pre-sentencing investigation be completed before he hands down a sentence.

Edson stabbed then-32-year-old Joseph Marx in March 2011 after Edson made a comment to Marx’s girlfriend about penis size at an apartment in Northfield. Marx and his girlfriend left the apartment, and Edson later followed after overhearing Marx say in a phone conversation he wanted nothing to do with Edson.

Edson forced his way into Marx’s residence and attacked him with a knife. Marx put Edson into a headlock and kept Edson from stabbing him, but Edson did slash Marx’s left hand. Marx pushed Edson out of the residence and locked the door. While Marx was holding the door shut, Edson smashed the glass window in the door and stabbed Marx in the abdomen.

Marx was hospitalized, and a doctor said the knife missed his heart and liver by centimeters.

Edson ran from the residence, changed his clothes and hid the knife. A witness told police where the knife could be found and was told by Edson that he had “done something he shouldn’t have done.”

In a separate incident, Edson is also facing two charges of aggravated sexual assault and a charge of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child, all felonies, in Windham County criminal court.

According to the police affidavit, Edson repeatedly raped an 11-year-old girl in the summer of 2009.